Transparency in development programs helps to make sure that resources are being used effectively, that they’re achieving the desired results, and provides information to partner governments critical for planning their own development.

Expanding the Open Data catalog is part of the MCC’s Open Government Plan, which is founded on the principles of transparency and results. So far, metadata is available from agriculture programs in Armenia, Ghana, El Salvador and the Philippines. By allowing the public to download data in an open format, MCC is giving citizens, companies, and governments a valuable tool.

Opening data is not always easy to do. The government-wide implementation of the open data policy will take some time. Making public new data sets takes a trifecta of political will, time and resources.

Often, agencies wait until these changes are forced upon them. It is refreshing to see the MCC out ahead of the open data curve, and we hope other agencies will follow their example as they face the challenge of making their databases “open” to the world.

This article was written by Lauren Pfeifer, who works on the Global Policy Team for the One Campaign. To view the original article on their website, please click here.